JOB AT DUBAI

Rashid Malabari got his passport, thanks to his sister Hajira’s husband Ismail, who sent him to Dubai where he started working as a salesman for an ice-cream company Malabari also doubled up as a mechanic in a garage to bail out Ismail who would regularly find himself in jail

His stay in Dubai came to a premature end owing to his arrest after an attack

gang. Malabari requested Shakeel for the bail amount. Shakeel went the exta mile: he not only got Ismail bailed but also gave some money to Malabari and his family. This quid-pro-quo arrangement laid the groundwork for Malabari’s entry into the underworld. First, he started handling hawala money for Shakeel’s gang before graduating to a feared shooter. The first prominent case against Malabari was related to a Navi Mumbai builder. On the order of Shakeel, Malabari allegedly fired four bullets at the builder in 1997.

In September 1997, Malabari’s brother Sajid had come to Mumbai from Dubai for a vacation. Chhota Rajan’s henchmen tailed Sajid and brutally killed him at BDD chawl.

The killing of Malabari’s brother became the turning point in his life. He once again left for Kerala and lived there for a year. During his stay in Kerala, he learnt that his brother-in-law Ismail was also killed by 10 members of the Rajan gang at Vikhroli court.

He became a sworn enemy of Rajan and killed two of the alleged assailants involved in the killing of his brother, at Mangalore railway station. There were many more to come. Rashid went on to kill Hussain Vastra, attempted to bump off Rajan in Bangkok in 2000 and shot dead Rajan’s most trusted and feared lieutenant Balu Dokre in 2003. He was arrested in 2009 as he plotted to kidnap a businessman and to use the ransom money to kill Varun Gandhi and Pramod Muthalik.